The (Staggering) Siege of Haarlem 1572/73 | Eighty Years' War

On the 11th December of 1572, a Spanish army under the command of Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo arrived at the Dutch town of Haarlem. This marked the beginning of a siege characterized by cruelties on both sides, a sea battle on the Haarlemmermeer and the arming of citizens to defend their town - most famous of all a woman called Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer. The siege of Haarlem was one of the most discussed and most vividly remembered sieges of the Eighty Years’ War. There is a 2014 movie titled “Kenau”, various stage plays, historical novels and even a siege-themed escape room in modern-day Haarlem. This is how contemporary historiography tells the story of the staggering siege of Haarlem:
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Bibliography:
Primary Sources:
Alva, Duke of, Epistolario del lII Duque de Alba, 3 vol, Madrid 1952.
Vazquez, A., Los Sucesos in Flandes y Francia, in Coleccion de Documentos Ineditos para la Historia de Espana, LXXII-LXXV, Madrid 1879-80, book IX.
Mendoza, B. de, Comentarios de 10 Sucedido en las Guerras de los Paises-Bajos, 1567-1577, in Rivadeneyra, (1853), Book IX, Chapter XI.
Literature
Duffy, C., The Fortress in the Early Modern World 1494-1660, London 1979.
Geyl, P., The Revolt of the Netherlands (1555-1609), New York 1958.
Israel, J., The Dutch Republic. It’s Rise, Greatness and Fall, Oxford 1995.
Townsend B. S., Great Sieges of History: The Sacking of Haarlem, in: The Cosmopolitan 39 (Aug. 1905), p. 447-453.

[@SandRhomanHistory]

Edit: Since it keeps popping up in your comments. Caesar is not part of early modern history. Thus our statement about the first use of circum and contravallation trenches "in the early modern period" is perfectly fine. That's why we chose the wording in the first place. We even mentioned Ceasar in our video on how to lay siege to a star fortress since we are well aware that it is common knowledge that caesar already did this. To whomever suggested us to look into the siege of Haarlem: Here you go! and thanks again! Any suggestions for other sieges?

[@gabrielvanhauten4169]

Vienna, helm deep and constinople

[@ProvidenceNL]

Siege of Leiden. Another fascinating siege, alot of them in the 80-year war! edit: As other people have said here, before the Siege of Leiden, the Siege of Alkmaar, it would be a logical next step since the fall of Haarlem led to these sieges!

[@indrako]

@@ProvidenceNL yup, this is an epic tale!

[@roodborstkalf9664]

@@ProvidenceNL : This siege was very important. I recently read some work that was published right after the siege. I was shocked by the violence and brutality. Especially the fighting between Castilian tercios and Zeelandic Calvinists volunteers in the breaking of the siege was of extreme brutality. No prisoners were made and some calvinists even ate the hearts of captured Spanish soldiers.

[@archenema6792]

How about the seige where Bohemond stole an army from his brother Bursa and his uncle Roger and took it to the First Crusade? I'm not sure the name of the town was even properly recorded.

[@farzet90]

defender: haha want some of these bread spaniards? *throws their last bread spaniards: *fully blockade the city defender: well shit

[@GuilhermeSouza-ux4jq]

Defender: I miss that bread I've threw away last week

[@cn.st.182]

Guilherme Souza aw, man, thanks for explaining. what would we do without you?

[@kerimozdemir4009]

Never waste what god provided for you although i dont know well siege history. Its a pattern i see on western sieges i think a muslim would never do that it would be nice some one knows better can point out a muslim defender taunting enemy with food

[@hendrikdependrik1891]

@@kerimozdemir4009 Indeed. The Ottomans didn't do anything with food when they conquered Constantinople while the French invented croissants to celebrate the European victory over the Ottomans at the Siege of Vienna.

[@5thMilitia]

@@kerimozdemir4009 Why does it matter?

[@mariocassina90]

Haarlem, where hiip hoop was born

[@LuisAldamiz]

That's another Harlem...

[@pietromeroni2023]

@@LuisAldamiz whooosh

[@alphahelix7948]

@@LuisAldamiz No no, you're thinking of hip hop

[@LuisAldamiz]

@@alphahelix7948 - Fair enough. XD

[@klausbrinck2137]

@@LuisAldamiz Always these people who answer, without even reading the original comment first... ;-)

[@gabrielinostroza4989]

I'm still taken by how brutal and grindy the warfare during this period was, it feels completely at odds with the medieval wars preceeding it and the modern period succeeding it, it feels like a snippet of word war one with pikes.

[@5thMilitia]

I think it also was more brutal because the Dutch were seen as rebels. Rebels where maybe treated worse than normally would be the case.

[@bteuben-faber8215]

Every war is brutal and cruel: The amount of fighting citizens and hired soldiers was less, but what does it matter when you are brutally killed yourself?

[@roodborstkalf9664]

Religious wars are always very brutal.

[@andro7862]

As the saying goes, war ain't a picnic.

[@kyomademon453]

@@5thMilitia they turned to heretical beliefs and spain had 0 tolerance of that bs back in the day lol

[@noah-jazz]

I'm just vibing here in Haarlem watching how thousands got slaughtered on and underneath the ground I walk upon every single day

[@JValentineV]

Haha same here 👊🏼

[@teijerokosch3441]

eigenlijk zit ik net in overveen....

[@jorenprins5947]

Haha zelfde

[@malorkie]

Zelfde hier, born and raised ;)

[@rickleloux6944]

Mooiste stad van t land, groetjes uit Haarlem Noord haha

[@LarryCroft111]

Your work is outstanding.

[@astrumespanol]

Is this Haarlem from where Harlem neighborhood in NYC takes its name?

[@erniegutierrez2288]

Its funny that there is a "Spanish Harlem" in NYC too (is actually called East Harlem though)

[@SardaukarSentinel]

Yes it is. But remember that the spelling back then was somewhat different. Haarlem was written as "Haerlem", with AE, as well as the city of Alkmaar was written as "Alkmaer". After the English takeover in 1665, i guess this is what the English thought how you pronounced Haerlem, so it became Harlem. Also, the area which is now Harlem was called Nieuw Haarlem.

[@maozedong44]

@@erniegutierrez2288 its called spanish because there are a lot of hispanics living there that moved in recently. Like little italy or china town.

[@lucasrem]

Astrum Español New Amsterdam it was, the red coats took it over till the revolutionary war. The Dutch never left New York, still a dutch city, Stuyvensant, Vanderbild etc...

[@lucasrem]

@@erniegutierrez2288 in these days, every minority was living in his own community! So they called it Spanish Harlem.

[@piotrzbies8683]

I'd love to see a film about Siege of Smolensk (one from 1632) which is probably the rare case of destruction of the double circumvallatian system in XVII century siege warfare.

[@bv2623]

There is a Russian movie (1612) on the Polish-Lithuanian invasion of Russia and a siege on Smolensk, but it is in the early 1600's. It features the Poles having Dutch and Swedish mercenaries attacking Russian Smolensk

[@clintmoor422]

amazing content as always. you really are criminally underrated my friend. keep it!

[@ronaldderooij1774]

As I was born and raised in Haarlem, there was a lot of attention to this topic at our school. One of the interesting things that the teacher told, was that the siege of Haarlem, although lost, was so costly to the Spaniards that they could not maintain the siege of Alkmaar thereafter anymore. I wonder if there is any substance in that, or if it is just regional chauvinism.

[@LynxSouth]

This video seems to support your teacher's statement.

[@aramos3639]

Besieging fortified places is a massive resource drain because the attacker needs to bring up so much effort. By doing that resources that could have been used elsewhere are tied up

[@lars7747]

In Alkmaar we learn that the Spanish were weakened at Haarlem before besieging us. The Spanish just ignored the heavy losses cause Alkmaar had barely any defenses. They just kept making the same mistakes

[@Wolf_Larsen]

Rare footage of the world cup final 2010, colorized.

[@higochumbo8932]

If the Spanish had used vuvuzelas instead of cannon fire, the dutch would have surrendered in a couple hours.

[@RaggaBaby]

Lol don't remember us,

[@someonesilence3731]

The Spanish cheat.

[@markvanderknoop131]

History returns still fighting of the plundering southern country's

[@robvoncken2565]

lol but this one WE won

[@mariushunger8755]

If there's water within reach of the dutch, the others will have a hard time for sure...

[@LuisAldamiz]

Even if it is saltwater!

[@davitxenko]

The Dutch are waterbenders confirmed?

[@hansybarra]

And they must be in constant alert so as not to be surprised by a flash flood that comes out of nowhere.

[@timvanveen6894]

davitxenko yes i can confirm this is true al dutch people can bend water

[@riograndedosulball248]

One cannot underplay water in reach of Spain/Portugal too, however. It evens the match

[@5thMilitia]

You are quickly becoming my favorite history channel. No other channel covers so much siege warfare and 80 years war history. Thanks man👍

[@alejandroblanco2754]

As a Spaniard I can say you're always fair and impartial. I'm loving the siege videos please keep it up!

[@EricvanDorp007]

I have seen a few uploads about my country The Netherlands in the 80-year war with Spain and my compliments about what I saw, I knew about the 80 years of war but this makes it way more understandable. Thank you for that! SandRhoman History

[@jaimesoler5543]

The 80 years' war was a civil war, between Catholics and Protestants who took refuge in the north, there was no hatred towards Spain, and many Belgians fought in the Spanish army.

[@ScottStratton]

A wonderful series and excellent work by you to bring it to life with accuracy and interest! I can think of no better suggestions, though, than the Great Siege of 1565 - Malta: Ottomans vs. the Hospitallers - one of the greatest, most important sieges in Western History!

[@Gutbomber]

Knights of St John!

[@jaimesoler5543]

They resisted thanks to the Spanish, although you like to eliminate that part of history

[@jaimesoler5543]

@@Gutbomber They resisted thanks to the Spanish, although you like to eliminate that part of history

[@Jack-Hands]

I suspect that the famous "Siege of Leiden" is in the pipeline for a future episode.

[@prisonguy9572]

I hope so, would love to see a vid about Leiden

[@MLWitteman]

And Alkmaar of course!

[@mrjules1982]

The sieges of Alkmaar and Leiden are the inevitable sequel to the siege of Haarlem. Haarlem lost the battle eventually, but they bought the rebels some time to rally and proved that the Spaniards were not, in fact, invincible... This emboldened the rebels in Alkmaar and Leiden. And their resistance was successful in the end. The Spanish soldiers stew that they left in their camps as they broke the siege of Leiden is a national dish to this day: hutspot. 'By Alckmaar begint de victorie'. This ultimately led to the liberation of Haarlem as well, and the establishment of the Dutch republic.

[@NajxxTrebla]

I'd love to see a video about the town i live in!

[@samukai5802]

The video is great, I really enjoyed it, your dutch pronounciation is quite good. Oh and yeah... G E K O L O N I S E E R D

[@oisnowy5368]

Actually not, feudal system and inheritance.

[@loekert3749]

Zeg makker

[@samukai5802]

@@oisnowy5368 what? I'm very confused

[@jevinliu4658]

Wouldn't it be the Dutch being colonized, if colonized at all?

[@SeBas14gaBriel24]

@@jevinliu4658 whoosh

[@Yomabo]

I love that I live on the location where the ship battle took place. I love in the Haarlemmermeer. No lake no more.

[@ronaldderooij1774]

Personally I would not want to be buried in the Haarlemmermeer, but hey, everybody his own thing.

[@bruh-vr5um]

Your work is amazing, thank you so much for this. Can you carry on shedding light on unheard pieces of history.

[@WoWsBestMoments]

Excellent content. This is one of the few channels for which I have the notifications enabled.

[@jarnonelis1518]

i have been waiting for this! thank you for talking about my hometown!

[@pierreofmontecristo2730]

Really well done video, thank you for making this!

[@JuiceStainded]

You should consider doing a video of the Siege of Leiden. It was part of the same war and they were eventually saved by flooding the surrounding area, allowing a group of privateers called the Sea Beggars to sail in and save them.

[@leagueoflags]

Absolutely stunning, keep up the excellent work!

[@philRminiatures]

A new page of brilliantly illustrated and told history, I really like the passage on the underground battle... But I would not have liked to be there! Great video!

[@maurivandenheuvel8149]

Your videos are of great quality: the maps, story and artwork are 🔥

[@sjoerdadlp]

Amazing. I applaud you sir for making this - I loved watching it!

[@l3ucl1]

Amazing video, i love the visuals!

[@upliftspice6282]

Amazing channel sir, keep up the good work !

[@hawkeye4659]

Great work guys, please continue the good work. 🙌

[@malorkie]

I’m born and raised in Haarlem (yes, the one in this video) and I never seen such a detailed video regarding this siege. Thank you!

[@ninjabunnyzz]

Great video, as always.

[@daan1196]

I live in Haarlem and love to learn more about this

[@Snibble]

Groetjes uit de vijfhoek! :)

[@MLWitteman]

Groeten vanaf de Zijlweg!

[@lucasrem]

Daa N In the eye of the beholder, this is just the basics, is it any correct? you should study the local books, what can you still find now, how can we make this more accurate.

[@Snibble]

lucas rem yeah I origanaly am from Amsterdam and was told this in school.. also once they captured the city they got so tired of chopping of heads they in stead tied them together and chucked them into the Spaarne (local canal)

[@MLWitteman]

Theoneandmarlboroman you mean the river Spaarne? It’s not a canal.

[@Royhkz]

As a Dutchman I can really appreciate your videos about the 80 years war. I never saw or learnt anything about the battles that were fought. What has been taught at high school was more about politics. We learnt about the assassination of Willem van Oranje, commander Alva with his big army, the battle of ten Briel at 1st of April or something like that, and the capture of the Spanish Silver fleet. But I was wondering, are you Dutch as well or why are you so interested in the 80 years war? Anyway, keep up the good work!

[@jjakjjak5231]

Read 'van nul tot nu', a famous comic book which is historically very accurate. If you've read that you know more Dutch history than most people learn in school.

[@JohanHerrenberg]

Johan van Oranje? Willem! And there was a Johan beheaded: Van Oldenbarnevelt.

[@marks.6480]

Johan van Oranje? Niet echt goed opgelet he?

[@JayzsMr]

He is Swiss I think

[@jajaja1282]

Let’s gooo a new vid I’ve been binging your channel all week lol

[@johnlansing2902]

Again Thank You .

[@henkvandenbergh1301]

Having moved from Haarlem to Colorado back in 1981 I was happily surprised a few years later at a flea-market: "Het Beleg Van Haarlem" door P. Visser. The book has been sitting in my office now for over 30 years. Maybe time to re-read.

[@sytsebakker]

Wow! I didn't know that much of my hometown. Now I do a little bit more. Thanks for the great info and animated historical lesson.

[@mtathos_]

After your antwerp video it became my favourite late medieval siege, thx for being great

[@noemiekramer7699]

Women to the walls! Thank you for mentioning the role of the women of Haarlem during the siege!

[@tatjanafrijns5077]

@Tattle Boad sorry but the story of Kenau is false, it is a legend, not based on facts, there is no proof that this woman fought/ leading a womans army, others information about her is true. but not this! also wrong perspective. unlikey that a woman in that time stood on the city wall and knew how to fight against army men. However. because Haarlem was under siege, it was farr more likely that everyone did something to keep going

[@Isidoros47]

@@tatjanafrijns5077 Actually, there are many examples of (some) fighting women all over the Middle ages. Also, the walls themselves give a high combat advantage to the defender so its nowhere near unrealistic a band of agressive women could succesfully defend the walls. I wouldn't dismiss the story as false prematurely...

[@KDOERAK]

In Haarlem, I used to work at an office in the Kenau park; sadly, did not know a thing about its history. Thx for your work.

[@alvaromartinez8209]

Siege of Malta of 1565: colorful leaders, issue undecided until last minute, and if Malta had fallen, Italy was next.

[@louleja]

Love malta😍

[@Steentje06]

!!! 2nd this! Tim Willocks wrote a really great historical roman about the siege of malta. It's called the order

[@r.ladaria135]

Not for sure. The Ottoman empire would have found the same guys that defeated them in Lepanto six years later.

[@Karthagast]

@@r.ladaria135 In fact, Malta was saved last minute by a relief Spanish Army, sent from Spanish possesions in Sicily and Naples. So the Ottomans didn't need to wait 6 years for meeting "the same guys that defeated them at Lepanto". They met at Malta itself.

[@NotFlappy12]

I really love this channel. One of the things I noticed is that you always try to pronounce names and words as correctly as possible, so I would like to help by pointing out that your pronunciation of Dutch words with "ui" in them could be better, the best way to learn the correct pronunciation is to look up the sound, as it is hard to describe with English sounds. My best attempt at describing it would be similar to "oy", but with an "uh" sound instead of an o. This is not meant as a critique, as it doesn't at all distract from the great video. But I am just trying to help

[@matthewreyes2401]

1:44 it’s amazing that they used ceasers implementation of two trenches one for the town and one for the attackers, amazing stuff.

[@michals4249]

interesting video, thank you

[@TheCarloza]

Awesome, I want a sequel! Siege of Alkmaar?? :D

[@yavyav2281]

I love how you represent the boats, idk why, its just beautiful.

[@WoutBr]

Julius Caesar: Double circumvallatian? "Laughs in Latin"

[@steveclapper5424]

You beat me to it!

[@owo5869]

First time use nah nah nah Caesar beat you to it.

[@philippekogler]

mmmh Chiappino Vitelli has read bellum gallicum well it seems.......

[@ragzaugustus]

I was going "Wait what! Caesar fucking did this, like several times in sieges, the Romans kept doing it afterwards too, fucking what?"

[@ignaciozaballa2176]

He said: "The first in the early modern era". He is very clear about it. Caesar describes at least on two occasions using a double fortification system. I wonder if it was an innovation at that time

[@christopherfranklin972]

Don Fadrique had obviously learned little from his Maltese experience,this is a fascinating period of history and I thoroughly enjoyed your video.

[@carlweiser5697]

Caesar used double wall seige tactic when he fought Gauls at Alesium against Vercingeteroux.

[@jdekkers3262]

The quality of your videos is noticably improving and as you can perhaps tell from my profile picture, I like the subject. Keep it up!

[@foetsie85]

Als je van de 80jarige oorlog hou dan beveel ik je defragged history aan op yt zij duikt er echt heel diep in

[@klinkadink1345]

is this city the namesake of modern-day New Amsterdam’s Harlem?

[@Bird_Dog00]

While I'd have to do some research (I guess Wikipedia would do in this case) to be 100% certain, I'd say this is a save assumption.

[@cvb6089]

Yes it is

[@jaspervankruijssen4916]

It is. Just like the village of Breukelen is for Brooklyn.

[@marcopothuizen]

Correct. It is.

[@doctoraep]

Yep, also the village of Hempstead in NYC is named after Haarlem's direct southern village neighbour, Heemstede. Actually a fuckton of NYC names are derived from its Dutch origins: Brunswyk (Bruinswijk), Broadway (Brede Weg), Brooklyn (Breukelen), Coney Island (Konijnen Eiland), Bushwyk (Boswijk)Flushing (Vlissingen) and many more. In fact even the US Dollar is named after the dutch Daalder ;)

[@christinejoyinoc9185]

I don't know if anyone notices but the animation is just uniquely astounding

[@xavierpetit9759]

One of the best channels I know thank you !

[@gandalfelrojo9456]

I love how he pronounced "Alvarez de Toledo".

[@gabrielvanhauten4169]

Mi scuuuusi

[@ieuanhunt552]

I love how he pronounces everything. His accent is nice.

I am from the region around Naarden, an Erfgooier, as the inheritors of the 13th century medieval land rights are called. Interestingly enough this means I know my family along the male line has never left that region since at least 1455. I am the first in my family line from 1455 to 2008 who left the region to live somewehere else. Within their annals even today, you can find references to the Erfgooiers being forced by the Spanish to destroy the few remaining buildings of Naarden after the population had been murdered by the Spanish and the town had been burned. Strangely enough many Dutch sources from that area claim that only two people survived the genocide, one leaving the city as the Spanish were beginning to arrive, the second a catholic priest who was meant to write the tale of the genocide to intimidate the Dutch. This is contrary to most other accounts that claim a couple dozen inhabitants survived. Apparently this also lead to the destruction of most of the nearby hamlet of Bussum.

[@MCorpReview]

Chris duffy: more ladders on the left, seige engine storm rt section (mortar sound in background) Demetrius taker of cities: thnx chris, u really know this stuff.

[@LikeUntoBuddha]

The Spanish at this time did not play. If they come for a siege, it was going to last.

[@5thMilitia]

Till they met Leiden and Alkmaar

[@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014]

Who are these? (Im starting to learn Dutchstory)

[@weertangel7231]

Gotta say, it interesting to see a english video about Dutch history, even more the way the dutch words are spoken, being dutch myself, i know how hard it can be to sometimes ;)

[@Thraim.]

Last time I was this late I didn't even know this channel existed.

[@Ominous89]

Don Frederico was based in a castle near Haarlem. Huis ter Kleef. They blew it up after the siege to prevent another Spaniard taking up that base. The ruins of that castle are still being preserved under a manufactured hill. Now it's a garden you can walk on.

[@hotrodharbor]

I thought the Spanish blew it up after their victory, to prevent it being used in a counter attack?

[@hernancortesfranciscopizar7916]

Hola, just a Spanish walking here .👋

[@5thMilitia]

Hallo

[@formepvp]

Interesting video. Liked and subbed. What programme do you use to make the videos? Powerpoint?

[@marklloyd3536]

Very interesting, @ period and event I knew little about.

[@edwardtheblackprince2722]

I love your videos. Pure quality. But I don't understand why you don't do them chronologically (regarding eighty years war). Why are you going backwards?

[@Nakai_the_Wanderer]

I really enjoy your videos and would also applaud you on the choice of music. Is there a playlist or do you have the name of the song playing by the end of the video? I would relly like to listen to it more often when I paint my Warhammer miniatures. Thanks for the great content!

[@SandRhomanHistory]

I don't know them on the top of my mind but some artists that I relied on for music are EGProductions, LuLuProduction and La Repeticion. Don't know whether the music is available for public use though because it's licensed stuff.

[@Nakai_the_Wanderer]

@@SandRhomanHistory Thank you for the reply.

[@TruckDriverLuke]

Greetings from Haarlem 💪🇳🇱

[@maxvandertoolen7569]

Great video! May I ask, what are your sources of information? Keep it up!

[@SandRhomanHistory]

The sources are always listed in the video description!

[@maxvandertoolen7569]

@@SandRhomanHistory Thank you! Fun add to the movie; A citizen from Haarlem kept a list with shots fired at the city. 10402 in total. nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beleg_van_Haarlem_(1572-1573)#/media/Bestand:Kanonskogels.jpg

[@danielblom391]

The book you showed, Hasse Simonsdochter, is not about the siege of Harlem or about Kenau. It's about a peasant girl who marries a notorious outlaw, Jan (can't remember his surname), who really existed and threw himself from the church tower his company was besieged in, allowing them to escape. Edit: I now realize it might have been intended as Kenau's origin story, but I'm not sure as the book has a very open ending if I remember correctly.

[@grewdpastor]

You meant Jan van Schaffelaar? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_van_Schaffelaar

[@danielblom391]

@@grewdpastor Yes

[@vijf]

Subbed!

[@knightforlorn6731]

your videos are incredible. I often wonder why there was not as much cooperation among various cities clearly being invaded by hostile nations.

[@hotrodharbor]

The Netherlands were not a nation yet. Every city was still deciding whether to join the uprising or not. The war was just as much against heavy taxation as it was a religious war. If one city would send its men to another city to help, they would leave their own city defenseless. It was chaos.

[@indrako]

Some cannonballs can still be seen in Haarlem :) See: www.tekensvandetijd.nl/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Sint_Bavo_kanonskogel1.jpg

[@mathijsharskamp5983]

The sieges of Breda and Bergen op Zoom have very interesting stories that would make a great video! The sieges of bergen op zoom were famous around the world and the city was nicknamed “the virgin”. They even made a song about it.

[@MusicReign]

No cell phone in sight. Just people living in the moment and casually executing 1735 Prisoners.

[@stepheneamonn]

I live in Haarlem and it's fascinating to hear more about it's impressive history.

[@brokenbridge6316]

I bet this was the toughest siege of the whole war. For both sides. I heard that the English attempted to help the Dutch in an attempt to weaken the Spanish but it didn't go anywhere.

[@destadhouder3689]

After the murder on WILLEM VAN ORANJE , the Stadholder and leader of the rebellion 1584 The Staten Generaal offerd the English Queen ELIZABETH the sovereign of the Dutch Republic She sends the earl of Leicester ROBERT DUDLEY, it was not a succes 1585-1587

[@maartenvmaldegem]

@@destadhouder3689 One could call it a Dud

[@jjakjjak5231]

Perhaps the conquest of Breda (not a siege strictly speaking, but reminiscent of a mythical siege all the same) or the siege of s'Hertogenbosch by Frederik Hendrik are worthwhile.

[@guavaguy4397]

0:58 Man the Dutch has some balls to still keep fighting even though most of their country was under occupation.

[@andreascovano7742]

the revolt had just started....

[@5thMilitia]

There wasn't really a dutch country tho at that moment.

[@guavaguy4397]

@@5thMilitia Yeah but they were up against the most powerful empire at the time.

[@5thMilitia]

@@guavaguy4397 true, although the ottomans where also up there

[@guavaguy4397]

@@5thMilitia yeah, them too.

[@freddielaker2]

The "Judiths" story must have travelled with Dutch sailors as in Liverpool women used to be called Judies.... it seems to make sense as a lot of Dutch words have found their way into the dialect in Liverpool and ports towns.

[@RuiFeio90]

I think circumvallation together with contravallation was exactly what Julius Caesar used at the siege of Alessia in 52 BC. So this can't have been the first usage of this technique. No doubt inspired by it though

[@stifflersrealmom5653]

What is the title of the song between the intro and the actual episode?

[@wertin200]

0:49 what is the name of the opening song?

[@Steevo2004]

Why did you show the book, Hasse Simonsdochter at the beginning? Not related since it is actually a story set during the middle ages.

[@robvoncken2565]

The fall of Haarlem was tragic but the seeds of victory were planted there. The next city the Spanish ( we really should say Habsburgish ) troops tried to conquer, Alkmaar, was so well defended due to the delay at Haarlem, the Spanish were not able to take it. The rebellion picked up momentum after that. There is still a saying " Bij Alkmaar begint de victorie" ( At Alkmaar the victory starts )

[@MrRobfullarton]

Yes, he's covered mostly dutch defeats, im interested in seeing, when the Dutch started to get the upper hand and how they got it too!

[@kwetsbarevrijheid2720]

Although it actually kind of started in Haarlem then no? :o

[@rodrigogimenez-ricolaguna4913]

too bad some dutch revolted against their king in a civil war that divided the contry

[@robvoncken2565]

@@MrRobfullarton There was no way the Dutch could compete with the spanish empire. There were victories, but their main strategy at that time was hold out. The Empire was collapsing through massive overspending, in the end we survived by a better economy, from the 1600 the Spanish were on the losing side

[@ronaldderooij1774]

@@MrRobfullarton Well, in short the Dutch modernized their army with very innovative ideas, built a huge fleet, stole the gold and silver transports of the Spanish from South America, and took over their colonies all over the world, depriving the spanish king of cash and, by the way, setting up an empire of their own. The Dutch revolt was unique in many ways, but also because it turned into a first proto world war.

[@SardaukarSentinel]

At 2:25 it is so uncanny to see that painting of the Grote Markt in Haarlem. Because it still looks exactly the same today over 4 centuries later. Nowadays you'll see people enjoying a drink on the terrace (on your right hand of the painting).

[@Elitecommander0]

Can you please do the siege of Leiden as well?

[@rudiberko4839]

Nice re-use of La Rochelle two towers ! Enjoying every bit of your production, keep up the good work of vulgarization going !!!

[@Rex73777]

Christopher Duffy: First time.... Caesar: Am I a joke to you?

[@Pecteu]

At 02:14 there is a nice anachronism. The blue-white emblem on the wall of the gate (at the right) was introduced in 1954 and indicates a building that must be protected during wartime. historiek.net/wp-content/uploads-phistor1/2015/02/Internationaal-herkenningsplaatje-voor-Monumenten-cc.jpg

[@soviettankmen]

because i'm not familiar with this period history, why and how spain could control the dutch teritorry ?

[@nickhowell872]

Spain was unthinkably powerful during the 15 hundreds due to their huge empire in the Americas. They were also ruled by the Hapsburgs, meaning they had the resources of southern Italy and Austria at their disposal as well

[@jabloko992]

They inherited it from the last Duke of Burgundy afaik.

[@MTTC-me5dj]

At the time of Charles V the Hapsburgs have a collection of empires under they rule the portuguese empire the austrian-hungarian empire the spanish empire all the south of italy (and in the North of Italy Genoa) Holland Almost all of America and the Holy Roman Empire. And under his rule the phrase "In my dominion the sun never sets" was truly born.

[@MTTC-me5dj]

He even wanted to include england in his "Universal Monarchy".... Can you even imagine what kind of Leviathan we are facing here? With the later British Empire under his rule the Hapsburgs could truly had ruled the world.

[@soviettankmen]

thank you for all of you for answering my question with great answers

[@UitdenOosterhout]

My father is Dutch and my mother is Spanish and I speak both languages and have lived in both countries :)

[@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014]

« Hey Spaniards, you hungry? » *Blockade by Spanish Fleet* « Well, all that wasted bread could had been used for better use rather than to mock our enemy » Lesson for defenders in any age: Don’t waste your food to mock the attackers, food is really precious

[@baafvonk]

Hasse Simonsdochter by Thea Beckmann is not a book about Kenau Simonsdochter but a book about the Hook and Cod wars 150 years earlier.It's based on the tale of Jan van Schaffelaar who jumped from a belltower in Barneveld to save his men.

[@historywithhilbert146]

Hello

[@JAGer-pl2vt]

There” “General Kenobi”

[@Nich-ib7xv]

*Het* *Wilhelmus* intensifies

[@elhanankarmeli7074]

Will there be a video on Vauban?

[@SandRhomanHistory]

Yes, at some point, might rake a while though!

[@AccordionJoe1]

As one of Dutch ancestry, I am proud to say that the Dutch, despite their tiny country and constant battles with the sea, have been incredibly successful over the centuries. And even today, the Dutch produce most of the world's flowers and the Netherlands is second only to the much larger United States in exporting agricultural products.

[@Inferi0r]

- They raise the most happy kids of the world, for years (UN report); - Compared to size of the country they have the highest number of good universities in the world. And unless like UK and USA, these universities are close to free for all Dutch citizens. All top universities are Public, this is uncomparable to any country in the world; - One of the only countries with an AAA-credit rating due to the unfailing budgetary discipline of the Dutch; - For decades, the Dutch pension system is seen as the best pension system in the world. It is quite striking that the National Civil Pension Fund of Holland frequently referred to as ABP (the pension fund for government and education employees in the Netherlands) is a top5 biggest pension fund in the world, with only having 2.8 million participants; - House (at least for now) to at least some of the biggest and longest standing companies in the world like Royal Dutch Shell, Unilever, ASML and NXP (both former Philips, once the biggest competitor of Samsung) ING bank (once the first Internet only bank in Canada and Australia in the '90s), which performance can be only compared to relatively small countries and business power houses like Swiss and Singapore; - Amsterdam, for decades the most mixed city of the world, with the highest number of nationalisties, even more than NY or Paris. - In terms of infrastructure, this is what the Dutch notice a lot when they are somewhere else in the world. According to several international reports the highway quality is always top3 and Internetspeed and coverage is amongst the best in the world for decades. Especially, when visiting a typical 2nd world country like USA, its clearly how much the Dutch infrastructure is outstanding that of the USA. - And last but not least, one of the few countries with a very very small number of homeless people. The social back-up system is very strong in Holland.

[@vincent5880]

@@Inferi0r please don't say Holland thats not a country it is The Netherlands. It's like calling the us Virginia

[@bteuben-faber8215]

Even flowers for the Catholic Pope. Who was a great fan of the Spanish ofcourse ... and of Louis XIV and Napoleon, 2 other dictators!!!

[@StofStuiver]

unfortunately, the gov wants to destroy agriculture too though.

[@TheDutchMitchell]

We export high value argue products, not high quantities.

[@timpyrules]

0:45 Hasse Simonsdochter was my favourite book of my childhood but it isnt about Kenau or the siege of Haarlem

[@publicenemy1991]

Hello, fortunately, I have found this video because recently I was walking in Haarlem and something that is close to the centrum catch my interest and I would like to know if You can give more info about that place or their history. I am very curious to know something about the buildings where now day's there the Gymnasium and where there are the bibliothec. The name of the straat is GASTHUISSTRAAT. Thank You 😊

[@pepperspray7386]

The particularly masculine woman reminds me of the woman character in True Grit, "Mattie Ross." Both were assertive in their lives and had legal battles with everyone around them. Wielding the law like a weapon against her enemies.